A Sullen Breeze
by Glay
Summary: A short post Card Captor fanfiction. It's about the interaction between Meilin and Li when he returns home for a visit. Hinting of S+S relationship.


Card Captor Sakura and its North American counter part, Cardcaptors, are in no way mine. The characters Meilin and Li aren't either. Right. That's settled.  
  
An important note: This was my first time writing a Card Captor Sakura fiction, if you have to flame me for something I wrote, go ahead. Also, the point of view jumps around a lot in this fiction, so I apologize to those who can't follow it.   
  
  
A Sullen Breeze  
  
The brisk air outside of her window made the leaves of the Japanese Cherry Blossom tree stir. Japan, where everything went wrong. The tree stood beautifully outside her room, reminding her of so many memories. Many of which in turn, reminded her of Li. She sighed. The suddenly cloudless sky caught her attention and she turned to get her boots. She knew he was going to come back home eventually; it was just that she had been waiting for a very, very long time. Pulling her hair up into the usual buns, she strode outside quickly, trying to lessen her reminiscing.  
  
Sweat soon found it's way onto her brow as she pounded her invisible enemy. She had to be strong. She was strong. If she could match his strength in body, instead of magic, then she'd at least have more ground covered, damn it! She and he were betrothed. Betrothed. The word obviously had no meaning what so ever to him, and here she was. Here she was, a strong, independent, young woman who could seemingly find a husband and be a dutiful wife quite nicely. Well poor me, the one husband I was supposed to acquire runs off to Japan and I follow. I follow like any other determined young lady would; yet he is the overly determined young man. Put one determined, magical, and stubborn boy together; and do you know what you have? You have Li. Supposedly my Li, but not anymore. He was never mine, although he was supposed to be. Well there you have it, things don't turn out how they are SUPPOSED to be. Things don't happen the way they were planned to happen. Things don't happen for me.  
  
A sullen breeze blew across her face, making her skin cool a bit as she quietly sat herself onto the swing that dangled off of the cherry blossom tree. She frowned deeply at the soft pink petals float down onto her lap. Fingering one, she felt the sudden urge to cut the whole damned tree down. They just had to have a piece of unwelcome Japan next to her house, didn't they? It wasn't even enough that they had the blasted thing. The nerve of sticking it dead centre to my window doesn't help my bitter mood, which is beginning to become the usual one ever since the outrageously symbolic item was placed there. Oh yes, it's very symbolic; it symbolizes all the times I've wanted to strangle the poor girl. She was ever so naïve and seemed to shed light and happiness wherever she went. Hah! It was always little "Card Captor Sakura", well! I'm sure Clow Reeves, himself, would turn in his grave if, perish the thought, one were to ever beckon the words "Card Captor Meilin" in even the same sentence. I hate irony...  
  
Meilin stopped her furious swinging on the swing when she was called inside for lunch. She breathed in the warm, slightly spicy scent of the cozy home. She was very happy to forget her jealous thoughts today. Yes, she'd accepted that she was jealous. For a long time now she'd known her envy and jealousy weren't getting her too far. It was something she couldn't help; she was betrothed. Again with that word, and she couldn't help the emotions and anxieties that something like that would put you through. She had wanted to protect him. From what? She didn't know, and she never really cared. In her eyes, Li was hers, and she was his, and you always protect what's yours...right? That was what Meilin had asked herself all these times she had sat under the cherry blossom tree and every single time had gotten angry. I don't own Li, but his heart was supposed to belong to me. Again with that word, supposed. That's why I always end up going full circle. All these questions, and I'm not the one with the answers. Li wasn't an object that she could have and hold, but he was something that she'd wanted to protect from the start. She'd gotten thrown into a loop; Li fit under both definitions.  
  
Taking a short pause before picking up her chopsticks, she looked sadly at the bowl in front of her. Her eyes started to hurt and she hung her head low. One sad fact remained to Meilin as she stared into the steaming bowl of mushrooms; she'd been doomed from the start.  
  
*  
  
Li let out a laboured sigh. He played with the hem of his shirt as the plane went in to land. He was going home. It felt like ages since he had been, and magnificent things had happened while he stayed in Japan. But, it was time for a visit, and he noticed, in Japan, time seemed to go so very quickly. So many things had happened in what appeared to be a short time. He hadn't even acknowledged how long he'd stayed until it was pointed out to him. Now, things seemed to move a bit slower. Ok, so he was being irrational, it felt as though he was climbing a mountain with nothing but his own two hands. A part of him did, however, enjoy the slow pace of it all. For, with home, came Meilin.   
  
Meilin, how on earth did she make him so...open? When she was around, he noted that he'd actually lift himself out of his serious disposition, to reveal his true emotions: embarrassment, and sometimes anger. Well, he supposed he displayed anger all the time. Now that he thought about it, he didn't lift himself out; Meilin did that for him. Letting a small smile escape he looked out of his window, the plane had landed, and he made a note to thank her for that. She'd always been so open with him; the least he could do was the same for her, for his friend.   
  
*  
  
She started to train again; it was all she ever really did since she had come back from Japan. The elders used to ask what was wrong. She had always replied that she wanted to be as strong as she could possibly be for Li with a tiny smile on her face. Of course, that wasn't really the fact she trained. She wanted to be strong all right, and she was training for Li...yet, it wasn't really for the reason one would normally expect...except, if you were from the Li clan. Eventually, the elders left her alone to train, and they seldom asked if she needed help when she hurt herself. Like she had said before, she was independent, and she was going to prove it.  
  
"I, Meilin Li, am disciplined. I, Meilin Li, am strong. I, Meilin Li, am independent. I, Meilin Li, am a fighter...."   
  
That's how she spent her afternoon that day, sitting up in the devilish looking Sakura tree, meditating with those four lines of motivation. Over and over again she chanted in her mind, sitting cross-legged up on the strongest branch where she often sat to vent frustrations.   
*  
  
I hear you Li. Why don't you come up to see me? It's been far to long. Meilin began to lose her cold stature. She started to feel the pang in her eyes and tugged at her hair. She swung on the branch so she hung upside down by her legs on the strong branch.   
  
"Maybe I should come to meet you, neh Li-kun?" She whispered quietly as she let her arms sway in the soft breeze. He flinched. He knew how she hated Japan so. Why was she acting this way? Maybe he shouldn't have come. It could have been different: this, it could have.  
"Otona ni nattar ne, Mukae ni kite ne. Itsu ka anata ga Yume wo kanaetara.." she muttered as the wind blew a few blossoms from the tree.  
"When we grow up, do come and meet me. When you fulfill your dream someday. You've been practicing, Meilin" Li echoed, he hadn't expected Meilin to be so...non-meilin! Yet, he'd also thought she'd run to him, throw her arms over him and...  
  
She frowned slightly; being cold and vague wouldn't get what she wanted. She never could stay angry with him, although she'd waited so long..  
  
"Welcome home, Syaoran. I've missed you terribly."  
"You haven't given me a hug yet, Meilin-chan."  
"Well, it's not everyday your fiancé comes back after, how many years has it been? Really Li... You could have spared time.."   
This got his heart pumping; he'd know he would have put her through some pain when she saw the relationship starting. He'd also known that she'd be angry with him...but, he just had never expected Meilin to have that tone. She'd always be kind.  
"Meilin, gomen nasai, demo..." Meilin seemed to droop down further; her hands almost touched the soft grass.  
"Meilin...I really don't know what you want from me. I'm trying my best here, I'm not denying the fact that things have changed."  
"Change has happened between us too, Li." She seemed, more distant to him, calmer in some respect.   
  
She sighed, relieving some visible tension in her body. Jumping down from the branch, she stood and laid her eyes on Li for the first real time in...how long? She'd lost count.  
Relaxing his high-strung heart, he stretched his arms wide open. They embraced.   
"Li?"  
"Hmm?"  
Their embrace never faltered.  
"Fight me."  
  
She reluctantly let go of him and backed away a few feet. Crouching into a fighting stance, glaring at him. And Li, stood shocked. She wants to fight?! Now of all times? He understood fully though, he understood all of her motives. He moved into a similar crouch too.   
  
"Syaoran.... If I may have this dance with you, will you forgive me?" She choked on her words at the end, she never wanted to do this, yet, and it was what she'd been waiting for, ever since she'd left Japan; the place where all things went wrong. "I accept, my Meilin." He smiled and closed his eyes. How he loved her spirit. She just didn't know it, yet.  
Letting all of her thoughts escape her, she attacked. Swiftly moving into the offensive state, Li was getting a run for him money. Li then flipped, making Meilin fall. Her pants that came just below her knees became torn, and her hands bloody. A look of something crossed Li's features, before he got slugged in the stomach.   
  
I was enjoying this. I didn't really know what to make of the feeling, but it was like fighting for something I've had all along, but it had been taken away from me all to suddenly...I got kicked in the face.  
  
"You've been slacking Syaoran! While you have been off capturing cards with the others, I have been training everyday."   
He gaped. "Everyday Meilin?"  
She smiled, a little conniving smile, he smiled back. Catching his breath, he sorely rubbed his left cheek.   
"Tell me..." he smiled a bit more, "did you wear those boots just for this occasion? They hurt a lot."  
She smiled that smile again, "Well, maybe.... still want to continue Syaoran or have I claimed victory?"  
  
*  
  
So, we had sat under that tree for a very long time. We sat until the stars came out and the moon started to shine gorgeously. Neither one of us really spoke; it was more of a mutual silence.   
  
"Li?"  
"Yes?"  
"Why did you return home? After all this time."  
"I missed you."  
"Liar."  
He grinned and flicked a piece of grass at her. "It was time."  
"To come home?"  
"To see you."  
"You're lying." She frowned. She wasn't going to be played into a guilt trip this time around. Not after all of that training.  
"I'm not."   
Wait wait, is he blushing? Her heart fluttered but she inwardly kicked herself. Stop it; he is all but your fiancé now. You've given him away... "You've changed so much."  
"Hmmm? What do you mean Mei?"  
"You always used to be so... focused." She turned to him, "But...I guess that's what it does to you." then turning up to the treetop, she caught a petal in her hand. He stared at it for a long while. Maybe he was trying to make sense of it, or just trying to figure out her thoughts on this.   
"No."  
"No what?"  
"Sakura can't change me."  
Meilin stirred at the name. "You changed yourself then."  
"No."  
"Li...." She growled softly and he let another smile loose. "See? That's what I mean. Since when have you started smiling, grinning and possibly laughing?!".... I like it like this, before everything was so pressured in our relationship, if you could really call it one. I like how I, we, can talk to each other now. I think... I like this.  
Li seemed to sense what I was thinking, he must have.   
I kissed her.  
  
*  
  
It really wasn't the type of kiss someone would call romantic. I'd want anything but a romantic one now. Li just wasn't one to romanticize, nor was I one to accept his efforts if he did. I think.... I think we had both decided we were best friends until we died that faithful night. He wasn't going to get rid of me, and I don't think he wanted to anymore. We had matured. I'm so glad about that night; it's excruciatingly painful to be so happy. Even though I'm not the first to consult when digging deep into the meaning of the things people do; I'm as clear as the sky was that night on this one. You can figure it out too, if I could. Li had always been like that, always the deeper meanings, have the deepest effects. You could say it was a revelation on my part.   
  
She stood there watching Li get on that plane once again, thinking, this was a glorious new beginning. Li was going back to Japan, he had gave her the friendship she had so long needed, and a bracelet he had brought for her from Japan; the place where magic reborn. The elders didn't mind. Some of them asked her if she wanted to move onto someone else. She was now the strongest and most skilled female martial artist in the Li clan. Many eligible bachelors were looking her way. She didn't need to think about that though. She just told them,  
  
Things don't happen the way they're supposed to. You can't count on things that are planned, because things just sometimes don't work out for people. They aren't supposed to happen for them, until the right time.  
  
*  
  
So, I sit here, on my windowsill with you. Watching the sunset and the Cherry Blossom tree start to bloom once again. My feet are cold and my hair is a bit ruffled. The bracelet is set on my hand, in stone, in magic, in memory. All this time, while telling you this, it is like I have been on the outside looking in. And even though, I'm sitting here, on my windowsill with you, I can't, won't ever forget, my sullen breeze.  
  
Fin  
  
  
  
This story was supposed to be told in a very vague way to get peoples' imaginations working and to promote simply the mood of it. If you have any questions and would like to contact me, my e-mail address is sonchichi@otakumail.com  
  
  
  



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